Johnny on the spot

It would appear that I need to figure out how to provide closed captioning for some of these RosenBlogs.

Like, say, this one posted Wednesday morning. I wrote that Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was failing offensively at the most critical time of the season. I wrote it was unacceptable. Heading into Wednesday night’s must-win against dreaded St. Louis, I wrote that Toews was a must-show-up.

And then the messages started. One guy who follows me on Twitter sent this: “How about them apples.’’ One guy began following me last night apparently just so he could tweet: “How’s that for Captain Serious showing up?’’An e-mailer asked “How do you like him now?’’ and included the smiley emoticon.

Yes. Right. Exactly. Finally. That was my point, people. Hel-lo. I know that reading comprehension has dropped nationally, but it should’ve been as obvious as the point on many of your heads.

He scored a goal, something he hadn’t done in the four previous games. Heck, he hadn’t managed so much as a measly second assist in that time and was a minus-4. He had only one goal in his previous nine games and was a minus player during that stretch. Just to clarify: not a good thing.

The Hawks needed goals desperately going into the last three games of the regular season. They didn’t need whining about overtime penalties. If Toews or anyone had scored in regulation in Montreal, there wouldn’t have been an overtime penalty. Just pull up your big boy pants and score a goal. I wrote that about Toews, Marian Hossa, Tomas Kopecky and others. I wrote that a lot of Hawks players were stinkin’ it up offensively and that needed to change, and that starts with Toews the way the Hawks’ playoff fortunes changed when he racked up 31 points in 20 games over February and March.

Wait, am I still going too fast here?

Toews. Needed. To. Score. And. He. Did. Period.

Some people reacted to the piece as if Toews is untouchable. Don’t you dare criticize our Johnny. Capt. Serious is the last guy you’d criticize. Blah, blah, blah.

Nope. Sorry. Wrong. He’s not untouchable. It’s just that he hasn’t given us much reason for it. Remarkably for someone that young and that good, he hasn’t. I think the world of the guy’s all-around talents and stunning maturity. I’ve taken up a lot of cyberspace saying so.

But truth is truth: The captain needed to make a difference in a dire situation. That’s what I said. That’s what he did.